I’m trying to stop being lazy. I am possibly the worst “blogger” of all time as I go months without updating or doing anything except binge watching netflix. So this is me trying to get paintings together for an art show thingy. I will be posting in a productive manner for approximately 2 months maximum… Then I guarantee I’ll be over it.

I’m pretty happy with it. I can see things that I’d like to change (as always) but haven’t got the strength to keep changing things. Otherwise, where do you stop? I think I will call it finished and do a better job on the next one. As a first attempt I’m quite proud.

Here’s today’s progress. It doesn’t look like much… and that’s because I have been procrastinating quite a lot. And dithering. I don’t exactly think today went swimmingly well- lot’s of cock ups that needed sorting out. But nevertheless, here we go:

Definition on the shading.

Adding highlights to flesh and dress.

Getting extrememly carried away with the bottom section. I may as well have turned her in to a mermaid…

So I painted it all out and tried to re-focus on it being an art nouvous piece. Don’t be afraid to make drastic changes at any point. It’s pretty much never too late.

Added in some fabric detail which I think is a vast improvement.

More tomorrow I hope. I’m currently snowed in my house, so there’s really no avoiding it. Let’s hope I don’t forget myself again and slap a horn on her head like a unicorn. God.

So I was about to start my pretentious “modern” art whim, and I thought to myself, “What would I be likely to buy if I was going to buy a painting?”. So I held off on that idea and decided to do a (quite heavily) inspired Alphonse Mucha style painting instead. I love art nouveau so it seemed an obvious choice.

I have taken quite a lot of pictures of the process this time. So I’m going to put them up tutorial(ish) stylee.

I use acrylic paint for most of my work because it dries quickly. But if you like to take your time you might want to try oils instead.

Just a side note- I will be explaining things as if my way is the only fathomable way of doing things. Because, well… it is.

On your palette you should have 2 yellows (1 cold, 1 warm), 2 Blues (1 cold, 1 warm), Red and White. You can put black if you want but you shouldn’t really need it.

Get the white covered up. This is IMPORTANT. It doesn’t even really matter what colour you choose. Just make sure it is THINLY distributed- don’t go caking it on.

Canvas covered.

Draw out your figure (or whatever your subject matter is) using a mid-tone paint. Still thin. I do this with paint as it is way easier to get rid of mistakes. You can just paint it straight out again. If you were to use a pencil on canvas, it is much harder to erase.

Don’t get too precise at this stage. Get your figure put down and then stand back from it to check proportions.

Start adding in the shaded areas first. When you’re using acrylic you should always work dark to light.

Carry on mapping out.

Don’t worry about any drips- you can brush them right out.

Add a hint of colour. Still keeping the paint thin.

Mix up a slightly darker tone to work in to the shaded areas and folds of the dress.

You can see where I have tried to figure out the right pattern to place in the circles. This won’t matter as it will get covered up by thicker paint eventually.

Draw out the pattern using paint again.

If you have decided on a definite colour for one section- like I have for the patetrn in the circles- then you should resist the urge to make it up thickly and slap it on. It will look flat and gloopy.

Instead, use thinner layers and bulid them up gradually.

So this is where I got to today. Will be carrying on tomorrow and posting more progress pictures.